Broncos running back Knowshon Moreno returned to practice Thursday, although he seemed to have a light workload. Moreno suffered a bruised right ankle on his 37th carry and 224th rushing yard Sunday night at New England.

Montee Ball and Ronnie Hillman are expected to be ready in case Moreno’s playing time is limited Sunday against the Kansas City Chiefs.

Tight end Julius Thomas was limited in practice again Thursday. Thomas missed the New England game because of a knee sprain. If he can’t play again this week, Virgil Green will handle the at-the-line blocking duty with Jacob Tamme playing the role of receiving tight end.

Right cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie returned to practice Thursday. He missed the second half and overtime quarter at New England because of a bruised shoulder he suffered while diving for a Tom Brady underthrown Hail Mary pass to end the first half.

The Broncos hope to have both Rodgers-Cromartie and Champ Bailey playing corner against the Chiefs. Bailey remains iffy.

Because its Chiefs week I expect aLL the players to suit up and give it a gO…Yet I’ll tell you rightnow that Knowshon likely will gut this out but I just dont see how “Effective” he can be in game action…Julius same deal im wondering what Broncos are seeing in practice and if he feels he can be effective…Talib and Dennard where ? Marks last week but played solid and all game for Pats but DRC and Champ returning Im guessing one of them isnt as effective as them or Broncos would like…DRC doesnt tackle much so shoulder, his legs will be good and Champ is a boost if he plays on Bowe when he lines up his side…These 2 our Broncos starters at CB,always a plus if you can have your best out there…I hope C.J. Anderson gets hot in game and gets rushing attempts I think he is Broncos strongest back hardest to stop from 3 yards at 224 and has a chance to shine if given chance…

Oh, so the Broncos decided to use to common sense and use Virgil Green as a blocking TE while Tamme catches the ball? Wonder why that didn’t occur to them last week? If it had, maybe they would have beat NE.

What are you talking about genius? Tamme caught 5 balls for 47 yds and a TD last week! Not bad for a TE don’t ya think? The reason they lost last week was due to a fumble by a rookie, a nice effort by the opposing defender to dive for an INT and a special teams player not paying attention while letting a ball bounce and touch him! Sorry but the team did not lose because of Jacob Tamme not getting enough looks…..LOL!!!

Love the Broncos. Got lucky this week #17 on the Chiefs dropped so many. Be nice to have Julius back but Tamme and Green are solid. Feel bad for Champ Bailey. Wonderful career, one of the best ever. Hope Rodgers Cromartie is ready to go for the Titans.

Nicki Jhabvala is a Broncos beat writer for The Denver Post. She was previously the digital news editor for sports. Before arriving in Denver, she spent five years at Sports Illustrated working primarily as its online NBA editor. She also spent two years as a home page editor at the New York Times.